Driscoll 7, St. Francis 3

Nothing like tuning up for the playoffs with your ninth home run of the season.

Sparked by the latest bomb from Illinois-bound senior catcher Adam Davis, Driscoll pulled away for a 7-3 Suburban Catholic Conference baseball victory over St. Francis on Monday in Wheaton.

The Highlanders (20-8, 10-4), who on Wednesday open play in the Class 2A playoffs, appeared to be on cruise control after opening a 4-0 lead through five innings. But after St. Francis (10-14, 2-11) narrowed the gap to 4-3 in the sixth, Driscoll regained its margin behind Rick Divito's RBI double and Davis' blast over the left-field fence.

"We feel pretty confident right now, we're playing good defense and we're starting to hit the ball much better," Davis said. "As long as we keep doing that, we'll be fine."

Driscoll coach Sean Bieterman went with pitching by committee, and Anthony Campanella and winning pitcher Corey Eisenmann rolled through the first five innings. The duo faced just one batter over the minimum and didn't allow anyone to reach second base in front of an errorless defense.

"Defensively I thought we did a nice job, and we've been trying to focus on that lately," Bieterman said. "Our pitching plan was to use three different guys and that worked out well for us, too."

Mark Doroba's second-inning sacrifice fly gave Driscoll a 1-0 lead. Third-inning infield singles by Davis and Gabe Tumlos drove in 3 runs for a 4-0 advantage.

St. Francis had only 2 hits in the game before stringing together 3 hits and a pair of walks in the sixth inning. Losing pitcher Michelangelo Consiglio (0-2) singled home 2 runs and Jason Lombardi followed with an RBI double.

The Spartans had the tying run at third base with one out when Brian Hartzell sent a fly ball to center field. Driscoll outfielder Jim Vondruska caught the ball and fired home to Davis, who tagged the runner out at the plate for an inning-ending double play that preserved the 4-3 lead.

It was the second twin killing of the game by the Highlanders. Davis also threw out a runner trying to steal second base.

"We made a little noise late in the game," said Spartans coach Rich Janor. "That double play in the sixth killed us, but we're just trying to get better and take steps in the right direction. We're looking forward to clearing the slate for the playoffs."